


Perspective

by Call_Me_Bob



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Gen, Guest starring Smug!Tenten at the end, Ino won't let him, Iruka approves, M/M, ShikaNaru from the perspective of others, The Nara are believed to be emotionless and Shikamaru accidentally believes in that too, There are two other pairings but they're only implied, Yamanaka Ino is a good friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:47:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25786831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Call_Me_Bob/pseuds/Call_Me_Bob
Summary: Soulmates feel each other's emotions. This can be both a blessing and a curse.Or, Naruto worries he doesn't have a soulmate for a hot second and Shikamaru frets over distracting his soulmate by accident. They eventually figure it out.
Relationships: Nara Shikamaru/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 26
Kudos: 440
Collections: ShikaNaru Weekend 2020





	1. Iruka

**Author's Note:**

> I love soulmate AUs far more than I probably should. They can be so much fun and it's amazing the amount of ideas there are for these kinds of stories! This is really more the two of them through the years from the perspectives of others, though. I may eventually add one last chapter to talk about how the two of them actually got together, but I'm leaving it as is for now. Hopefully it's acceptable! Also, titles are dumb. Just thought y'all should know if you didn't already.

Iruka loved his students greatly. Of course he did, how could he not? They were wonderful even if they could all get on his nerves at times. But they were kids, so it was more admissible than it would be for adults. Still, to watch the number of girls in his class fawn over Sasuke even after the lesson on soulmates wasn’t necessarily disappointing, but it was something. Actually, they probably started fawning over him even more after that particular lesson, absolutely convinced that he was merely hiding his true emotions for how he felt toward them. Certain that they were his destined other half.

He could only shake his head. Soulmates could feel each other’s emotions at any given moment. If any of these girls were truly linked with Sasuke, then surely they would be feeling the irritation Iruka could see plainly written across his face and in his posture.

Oh well. Kids will be kids and they would hopefully find their real soulmate one day.

Iruka found it adorable how so many of the students were speaking to each other about the emotions they were feeling, wondering if they were feeling their own or their soulmates. When he had dinner with Naruto after that lesson, he found himself having a similar conversation.

“Nothing?”

Naruto shook his head, looking upset but trying to hide it. He wasn’t feeling anything from his soulmate, apparently. Iruka frowned at this. Everyone had a soulmate. There wasn’t a person on this planet Iruka knew of who didn’t have a soulmate. He knew that even Orochimaru had one, though no one knew who it was. How could it be possible for that man to have a soulmate, but not Naruto? Iruka found that hard to believe.

“I’m certain you’ve got one, Naruto. Perhaps your own emotions are overshadowing your soulmates.”

Naruto blinked at him, confusion written plainly on his face. “How?”

“You feel very strongly, Naruto. If your soulmate perhaps feels at a degree less than you do, it’s possible you may not notice their emotions over your own. Just give it time. You’ll feel them soon, I’m positive.”

It was perhaps not the best idea to promise something like that, but to see Naruto relax and smile at him, looking much happier than he had a moment ago, was worth it.

By the time the bell rang for class to begin, Iruka found himself tapping his fingers on his desk. Everyone was back and waiting for their next lesson to begin. Everyone except for one loud student. Where was Naruto? After the report he had been given about what was going on, he was worried that something may have happened.

Unfortunately, he was right.

It had been a scare for Iruka to learn that Naruto was out in the forest, in harms’ way no less! He hadn’t even thought when he bolted from the room, hoping for the best, but knowing how unlikely that was.

Thankfully, in the end, Naruto was fine. Scared, but fine.

Scared and in awe.

Iruka was carrying him back to his apartment, intent on getting him looked over just to be certain he was alright, not bothering with his class since school was out by now anyway, when Naruto told him.

“I felt it.”

“Felt what?” Iruka couldn’t really turn to see Naruto, but he could feel him practically vibrating on his back from excitement.

“I felt my… soulmate.” He sounded reverent. “I was so scared, Iruka-sensei. I didn’t have room for anything else and then I just felt this…I felt angry, suddenly. But it wasn’t me who was angry! It was my soulmate!” He continued to gush about the feeling, about how odd it had felt, but he was excited because now he knew what to pay attention to when he wanted to feel his soulmate’s emotions and he couldn’t wait!

Iruka had paused for a second at Naruto’s words, suddenly thoughtful.

“What are they feeling now?” He asked, encouraging Naruto’s enthusiasm, genuinely happy for him, but curious now, too.

“Um…still angry. But, uh, worried, too, I think. Or maybe it’s, uh…” he trailed off, obviously trying to find the word he wanted.

“Maybe upset? Hesitant? Or perhaps hopeful?” Iruka supplied.

“Yeah, that, I think. I’m not for sure, ya know? I think I’m too happy right now.” Naruto didn’t clarify which one sounded right, but that was fine.

The next day, Iruka kept an eye out, waiting to see how the situation unfolded. Naruto showed up about the time he always did, no worse for wear from the day before. In fact, he seemed particularly happy today, as though his life hadn’t been in danger not even 24 hours before.

Unusually, just a few minutes after Naruto got to class, Shikamaru entered the room. Iruka watched as Shikamaru scanned the room real quick before ascending the stairs, stopping by Naruto’s desk and speaking with him. Shikamaru was normally one of the last kids to make it to class, narrowly avoiding being late each and every time. Today, he was early. By a fair bit.

From his distance, Iruka couldn’t hear Shikamaru speaking in low tones to Naruto, but he could certainly hear Naruto’s responses. He was fine, no need to worry, his story of what happened yesterday, and then him accepting some invitation Shikamaru had made before he continued on his way to his desk.

It wasn’t difficult for Iruka to see the way Shikamaru’s shoulders slumped in relief, obviously pacified by the sight of Naruto safe and sound.

And he wasn’t surprised in the least when Naruto would later tell him that he had felt his soulmate’s emotions again that day. When Iruka had guessed the word Naruto was looking for was relief, he also hadn’t been surprised when Naruto nodded his head in agreement.

They were only kids, still a couple of years off from graduating the Academy, but Iruka was glad it was Shikamaru. He had never judged Naruto like many of the others, so he was already off to a good start in Iruka’s book.


	2. Ino

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Team Ten is soft and super close and Ino is both sad and happy.

It had been…a day. There really wasn’t any other way to describe it. Team Ten had just gotten back from their very first mission outside the village gates. It had been successful because of course it would be with the four of them and they had all been tired, but relatively happy, though Shikamaru seemed more anxious than anything. (Ino chalked that up to wanting to hurry up and get to a bed, one of the few times Shikamaru would hurry anywhere.) Then Ino had learned about Team Seven. That they had a very bad run in with a very strong enemy.

Her heart had seized in her chest when she had heard from her fellow genin about how they had nearly died. It put a lot of things into perspective rapidly. She knew there was always a chance she would never come back home, but it’s one thing to know and another thing to _know_.

She didn’t know what to do with herself after hearing that and she found herself too full of nervous energy to just go home and fall asleep, so when Shikamaru invited both her and Chouji over to dinner, she accepted. (Of course Chouji did, too.)

They sat on the back porch together afterward, just enjoying the peace between each other. Ino noticed both of her boys seemed more relaxed now and it put her at ease.

“What are you feeling?” She asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the peace, but curious all the same.

Neither of her boys really reacted to the question. Chouji hummed thoughtfully as he leaned back onto his hands.

“Tired. It must be almost bedtime for them, too.”

Shikamaru was silent, most likely trying to decipher the emotions draped over his mind like a cloak over shoulders. “Excited. Happy. Nervous. Feels like too much pent up energy to get to sleep,” he murmured.

Ino felt him grab her hand and she squeezed back, smiling softly at the night sky. “What does it feel like?”

“Like a buzz under the skin,” Shikamaru said. “Kind of like the feeling you get where you just have to move even if you don’t want to.” He shot her a playful glare when she turned a mock look of shock to him. “Yes, I know what that feeling is like, you harpy.”

She giggled, leaning sideways into Chouji’s side, partially dragging Shikamaru with her. “Does it feel warm?” She whispered, a soft, sad smile on her face.

Chouji would probably try to tell her something akin to a white lie. He would downplay the sensation to not hurt her feelings. At times she preferred Chouji’s description for that very reason, but she wanted to _know_ what it was like, which is why she spoke to Shikamaru. He would tell her exactly what she wanted to know even if it may hurt her to hear it.

“It feels like the sun.”

It pained her, but it also brought a smile to her face at the same time. “Good. I’m glad your soulmate makes you so happy,” she murmured, her arm wrapped around his shoulders now, having essentially dragged Shikamaru into her lap as she curled herself mostly into Chouji’s.

Shikamaru sighed heavily, but said nothing.

“Don’t,” she suddenly bit out, frowning. “You deserve to feel these emotions, Shikamaru. Both of you do.”

His arms had found their way around her waist and he rest his head on her shoulder as she did the same with Chouji.

“You deserve to feel something, too, Ino,” Chouji whispered gently, one hand carding itself through her hair.

Ino could feel her eyes burning. All she had ever felt from her soulmate was nothing. Nothing and pain. The pain was the only thing that let her know she even had a soulmate. It hurt. A lot.

“I guess I just need to feel enough for the both of us then, huh?” She murmured.

Though he didn’t say anything, Ino knew Shikamaru had his own opinions on that. He had tried to explain it to her once. About how he had reservations over allowing his soulmate to know what he was feeling all the time. That it worried him if his soulmate was also a ninja then what if his emotions distracted them in a dangerous situation? He had been distracted on a couple of occasions by his own soulmate’s emotions overpowering him and the only reason why it had been fine was because Shikamaru had the ability to suppress emotions and shove them down so it wouldn’t blind his logical thinking. Which included his soulmate’s, apparently.

And he did it all the time, without even thinking about it anymore.

Ino hated that he did that.

They had an argument over it before. She knew what it was like to feel nothing from a soulmate, so how could Shikamaru willingly do that to his own? It was unfair.

Shikamaru had argued back that he didn’t want to distract his soulmate for fear of being the cause of their death.

She could see where he was coming from, but she also knew him far too well.

_“You have emotions! You’re not a stoic, emotionless statue! Stop believing what they all say! If you really didn’t feel then this wouldn’t bother you so much that you feel the need to protect your soulmate!”_

Ino didn’t often see either of her boys cry, but she did see it that day. It wasn’t unheard of for people to believe the Nara didn’t feel emotions at all. It had a lot to do with the fact that they tended to have their faces resting in neutral expressions most of the time and it probably didn’t help that they were also known as the Assassin Clan. And despite everything to the contrary, Shikamaru wasn’t immune to behaving how others expected him to behave. Even if he didn’t realize he was doing so.

He had honestly thought there was something wrong with him when they were younger. Ino had to practically beat him over the head with example after example of how he did feel emotions and did so strongly for him to believe her. She would admit, her crying over the whole thing had probably helped to persuade him to some degree.

“I think that’s a good idea,” Chouji responded, drawing Ino back from her thoughts.

Ino snuggled into his side a bit more, drawing Shikamaru with her as he grumbled over the movement disturbing him.

They eventually left the Nara household, though Ino paused by Shikamaru’s side to speak with him quickly. He looked as though he was already anticipating what she had to say because she could see the tension in his shoulders and the way he was refusing to look her in the eye.

“Let your soulmate know what you’re feeling, Shikamaru. It’s only fair.” They had this conversation more than once after that argument. Every time they were splitting up for the day, Ino would say the same thing. Shikamaru would normally say nothing and leave without a word.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Shikamaru sighed and finally looked at her. “I’m…not really sure I know how to do that anymore.”

“Then Chouji and I will help!” Ino told him brightly, relieved and hopeful. Perhaps she or something had finally gotten through to him. “But you need to give them some head’s up or else they’ll be completely blindsided when you finally find each other. They won’t know what to do with someone who feels as strongly as they do when they’ve been expecting muted responses this whole time!”

He rolled his eyes at her. “I’ll try.”

“That’s all I ask.”

Ino left that night feeling like she had accomplished something important.


	3. Tenten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tenten is the first one to figure it out and is pretty smug about it.

Everyone had gotten together for a friendly dinner, catching up with each other since the last time. It was loud as people shouted at each other from across the table and about five people in between. Tenten was sat between Kiba and Sakura, regretting the position immensely as she tried to tune them out to salvage what little hearing she had left.

Lee was gesticulating wildly down the table, loudly proclaiming something that was, shockingly, getting drowned out by everyone else also talking. If she had to guess, though, she’d say it was something about youth. Of the people at the table, Neji, Hinata, Shino, Shikamaru, and herself were really the only ones being at least a bit quiet. Even Chouji was telling Kiba something loudly as Ino hurtled some kind of comment Sakura’s way to which she screeched what Tenten was pretty sure was an insult right back. (She was pretty sure Sakura didn’t even know what Ino had said and just made an assumption based on Ino’s expression.)

The only reason Sai was speaking loudly was so Shino could hear him due to Ino’s volume right next to him. Naruto was a part of the conversation Lee was having which would have been bad enough on its own, except they were practically on opposite ends of the table from each other.

Sighing, she rested her head on her hand and looked across the table at Shikamaru who gave a lazy shrug of agreement in response. She grinned a bit at that.

Glancing around, Neji appeared to be trying to have a discussion with Hinata, but whether they could actually hear each other was hard to tell. It didn’t help that at some point Kakashi and Gai had shown up, so that just added to the noise level.

She could feel a sharp wave of fond irritation wash over her and she just smiled softly to herself as she patted Sakura’s hand where it rested on the table.

Some movement across from her caught her attention as she looked up to find Naruto no longer engaging Lee in a conversation, but was now turned to Shikamaru. She, obviously, couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Naruto seemed concerned out of nowhere.

Frowning, Tenten watched them for a moment, wondering what had happened. The thing is, they weren’t sitting directly next to each other. Chouji was between them, so Naruto had to lean around him in order to speak with Shikamaru.

After a brief moment of discussion that didn’t really seem to require speaking, Shikamaru stood from the table. Tenten watched him go then turned back to Naruto, finding him speaking with Chouji before giving his shoulder a pat and standing as well.

No one else at the table really seemed to notice their departure, but Tenten watched curiously as they went to pay for their food and leave the restaurant. Oh well, none of her business.

The next day, she stumbled across Naruto’s path and couldn’t keep herself from asking.

“Everything ok?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah! Everything’s fine! Why?”

“Just checking. You and Shikamaru left suddenly last night is all,” Tenten explained, watching as Naruto scratched at the back of his neck.

“Yeah, he had a headache so we decided to leave early. I didn’t want to interrupt everyone’s fun, though, so that’s why we made it quiet,” Naruto said, grinning.

Tenten thought over last night, trying to remember, but coming up short. “He looked fine to me. How did you know?” She asked curiously.

“Ah, I just had a feeling, you know?”

Before she could decide whether to ask anything else or to just leave it, Naruto suddenly frowned. “Sorry, Tenten, but I need to go. I’ll talk to you later, though, alright?”

At her confirmation, he took off. Heading in a direction perpendicular to the one he had been going down originally, now aiming in the general direction of the Nara clan compound.

Interesting.

The whole thing wouldn’t leave her alone as she thought over everything. It was certainly possible Shikamaru had just told Naruto he wasn’t feeling well and wanted to leave, but why tell Naruto at all instead of Chouji who was sitting right next to him? And why did Naruto need to go with him? But, Naruto hadn’t even said Shikamaru had told him. He said he “had a feeling.” Had Shikamaru warned him he might be coming down with a headache earlier? But, again, why Naruto? Not to mention, they had arrived to the get together separately.

And then the interaction she and Naruto had just a minute ago. He looked like he had noticed something and that’s what caused him to change course. Certainly it was possible he had just remembered something he had forgotten earlier, but from what she knew of Naruto, that wasn’t his “oh shit, I just remembered” face. Sakura would know better than her, though, so it’s entirely possible she was wrong about that.

Still…he had a feeling. Suddenly heading off to the Nara compound. And Naruto’s desire to correct people about strong feelings and how he wasn’t the only one who had them. She had always figured he was talking about in general, perhaps alluding to Lee and Gai, for instance. Now she was beginning to think he was defending a soulmate they didn’t know about.

Well, there really wasn’t any way for her to prove it, so it’s not like it really mattered in the end. She could always ask Sakura about it later if she wanted to.

(Eventually, she would be able to smugly look at Sakura when everyone found out the two of them were, in fact, soulmates. She had brought up her theory to Sakura who hadn’t been convinced which kind of made Tenten dig her heels in on it because that’s the kind of stubborn she is. And she had been right, so ha!)


End file.
